Well, I guess I will try to keep this short. Of course, while on the Road, and in a hotel, I LOVE room service, even in a place like Holiday Inn SELECT. Love eating in my PJs. And having real 1/2 & 1/2, a nice 1/2 bottle of champagne with my "friend", and then a nice little post, shall we say, activity nap. Yes. Oh yes. Then get on the hoof about 4pm. For lunch.
But seriously, here are just two of my favorite breakfasts. In LA, or nearby. Now, I know everyone thinks the Pacific Dining Car is really expensive, and that is true for steaks, BUT... in the last few years they have decided to serve breakfast 24 hours, and I tell you, it's really not a bad deal, when you are ready for a truly soothing, quiet, relaxed, beautifully presented breakfast. Okay, you might spend $15 on bacon & eggs. BUT THEY ARE REALLY GOOD, OKAY?? It's a place to take a parent, or girlfriend, or whatever. It's not like any other place I can think of. It's special. At 3 AM you and your friend can whisper at each other. And all of this, including the coffee cups, in EXPENSIVE china. I love it. Good Bloody Marys, too. This is NOT Denny's. DO NOT wear flip-flops and a tube top in here.
Now, I know a lot of people here like that other place with no locks on the door, The Original Pantry, also in DT LA, but I'm just not crazy about it. If I did more searching, I'm sure I would find others I liked a lot more than The OP.
Alright, for those of you lucky enough to spend a night or two in Ojai, which is an hour or two north of LA, here's a nice little place for brekkers, on the north side of the main drag, on the east side of town, I think it's called the Garden Terrace. Probably open 7 days/wk. They have the BEST breakfast potatoes I have ever seen. I love the outdoor seating (which implies ashtrays!), and overall, the quality of the food and service is just great. OH! Here's this too! While you are in Ojai, do your foodie booty a favor and stop in at the GREAT little department store (north side of the main drag) called "Rains", as in Claude Rains. It's fantastic, they have a really good buyer, and tons of pepper mills, sea salt, all kinds of dry goods like that. Be careful about how many credit cards you bring along, you might get in over your head.
Other than that, I can't recommend a lot of breakfast places. I have a place on Soto, around 26th St, called Joe K's Deli, that is dirt cheap, and pretty good, I just don't know if it's top 10 material. Then, there is a really odd place called Mike's Hockey Burger, at Olympic & Soto, which is just too strange to describe, but the food is fine. I'd love to hear other Angeleno thoughts on all these places.
-Scott Lindgren
scottlindgren@netzero.com 213 219 7160
